Advanced Methods for Analyzing in-Situ Observations of Magnetic Reconnection

H Hasegawa; M R Argall; N Aunai; R Bandyopadhyay; N Bessho; I J Cohen; R E Denton; J C Dorelli; J Egedal; S A Fuselier; P Garnier; V Génot; D B Graham; K J Hwang; Y V Khotyaintsev; D B Korovinskiy; B Lavraud; Q Lenouvel; T C Li; Y-H Liu; B Michotte de Welle; T K M Nakamura; D S Payne; S M Petrinec; Y Qi; A C Rager; P H Reiff; J M Schroeder; J R Shuster; M I Sitnov; G K Stephens; M Swisdak; A M Tian; R B Torbert; K J Trattner; S Zenitani

doi:10.1007/s11214-024-01095-w

Advanced Methods for Analyzing in-Situ Observations of Magnetic Reconnection

Space Sci Rev. 2024;220(6):68. doi: 10.1007/s11214-024-01095-w. Epub 2024 Sep 2.

Authors

H Hasegawa¹, M R Argall², N Aunai³, R Bandyopadhyay⁴, N Bessho^{5

6}, I J Cohen⁷, R E Denton⁸, J C Dorelli⁶, J Egedal⁹, S A Fuselier^{10

11}, P Garnier¹², V Génot¹², D B Graham¹³, K J Hwang¹⁰, Y V Khotyaintsev^{13

14}, D B Korovinskiy¹⁵, B Lavraud^{12

16}, Q Lenouvel¹², T C Li⁸, Y-H Liu⁸, B Michotte de Welle³, T K M Nakamura^{15

17}, D S Payne¹⁸, S M Petrinec¹⁹, Y Qi²⁰, A C Rager⁶, P H Reiff²¹, J M Schroeder⁹, J R Shuster², M I Sitnov⁷, G K Stephens⁷, M Swisdak¹⁸, A M Tian²², R B Torbert^{23

24}, K J Trattner²⁰, S Zenitani^{15

25}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5210 Japan.
² Space Science Center, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824 USA.
³ CNRS, Ecole polytechnique, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Sud, Observatoire de Paris, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Université Paris-Saclay, PSL Research Univsersity, Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas, Palaiseau, France.
⁴ Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 USA.
⁵ Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742 USA.
⁶ Heliophysics Science Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA.
⁷ Applied Physics Laboratory, The Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, MD USA.
⁸ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH USA.
⁹ Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706 USA.
¹⁰ Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX USA.
¹¹ University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX USA.
¹² Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie, CNRS, Université Paul Sabatier, CNES, Toulouse, France.
¹³ Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Uppsala, Sweden.
¹⁴ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
¹⁵ Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Graz, Austria.
¹⁶ Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux, Université Bordeaux, CNRS, Pessac, France.
¹⁷ Krimgen LLC, Hiroshima, 732-0828 Japan.
¹⁸ Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD USA.
¹⁹ Lockheed Martin ATC, Palo Alto, CA USA.
²⁰ Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO USA.
²¹ Rice Space Institute, Rice University, Houston, TX USA.
²² Shandong Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar-Terrestrial Environment, School of Space Science and Physics, Institute of Space Sciences, Shandong University, Weihai, Shandong 264209 People's Republic of China.
²³ Southwest Research Institute, Durham, NH USA.
²⁴ Physics Department, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH USA.
²⁵ Research Center for Urban Safety and Security, Kobe University, Kobe, 657-8501 Japan.

Abstract

There is ample evidence for magnetic reconnection in the solar system, but it is a nontrivial task to visualize, to determine the proper approaches and frames to study, and in turn to elucidate the physical processes at work in reconnection regions from in-situ measurements of plasma particles and electromagnetic fields. Here an overview is given of a variety of single- and multi-spacecraft data analysis techniques that are key to revealing the context of in-situ observations of magnetic reconnection in space and for detecting and analyzing the diffusion regions where ions and/or electrons are demagnetized. We focus on recent advances in the era of the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission, which has made electron-scale, multi-point measurements of magnetic reconnection in and around Earth's magnetosphere.

Keywords: Data analysis techniques; Electron diffusion region; In-situ measurements; Magnetic reconnection; Magnetosphere.

Publication types

Review